Lifestyles Of The Rich And Criminal: Unbelievable

August 27, 1989|By Los Angeles Times

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Everyone has heard that the lords of the Colombian drug cartels live amid opulence that even fellow billionaires might envy.

And indeed, the fabulous riches and ostentatious lifestyles of the cartel kingpins were made public last week when police and soldiers seized hundreds of their mansions, ranches, private zoos and businesses.

For example, the Bogota home of Medellin cartel leader, Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha - known for his taste in Mexican art objects as well as his reputedly unparalleled brutality - was found by those who seized it to be virtually marble-encased and gold-plated.

The mansion, which covers a square block, has 10 silk-lined bathrooms with gold fixtures and Italian toilet paper with an image of a nude woman on each sheet.

But the lesser figures of the drug conglomerate who would be classed as ''middle management'' in any other business live more modestly, right?

Not so, according to the soldiers who seized the 200-acre country estate of minor cartel figure Camillo Zapata Vasquez last weekend and showed it to foreign journalists Friday.

The centerpiece of the rural Bogota estate is a a reproduction of a medieval castle that is crammed with antiques and oil paintings.

A leather-bound guest book contains affectionate notes inscribed by local politicians, police and military officers and some whose talents may have been of less subtle use to the cartel.

''Living by chance, Loving by choice, Killing for profession,'' read an inscription in English. It was signed ''Mad Max.''

Another offered cryptic felicitations. ''Happy Birthday,'' it said. ''Tomorrow they are going to kill me because of you.''

Another English-speaking guest, in an apparent reference to an American military rifle, wrote: ''Why waltz when you can rock 'n' roll? M-16 Power!''

Two of Zapata's 10 gardeners said their master, who they believe is in the United States, held himself aloof from the estate's staff but entertained lavishly and often. He paid the gardeners less than $100 a month, they said.

Besides the fairyland stone castle, the immaculately manicured grounds contains a dozen buildings, including a plexiglass-roofed structure for the swimming pool and barbecue, a spotless stable for a dozen show horses, a private bullring and two architecturally entrancing mansions.

The soldiers who seized the estate and the gardeners seemed to know little about Zapata.

A colonel who led the tour of the estate called Zapata a ''small-fry drug trafficker'' associated with Rodriguez Gacha, who drug experts here say has become the leading figure in the Medellin cartel.

Colombian journalists who follow the business fortunes of the cartels said Zapata was more of a contact man for Rodriguez Gacha, working for fees rather than earning from direct drug sales.

A local reporter said Zapata may have been shot to death in a drug dispute a few months ago in Venezuela. Whatever his fate, Zapata's lifestyle on the luxurious estate would seem to suggest that, in Colombia, crime does pay - if only for a little while.